Obsidian Charts

Obsidian Charts

Reference for the Charts plugin (obsidian-charts by phibr0). Wraps Chart.js v3 with an Obsidian-friendly YAML codeblock, a DataviewJS integration, and a table-to-chart command.

What the plugin is

A community plugin that registers two markdown codeblock processors and one global function:

• ```chart — YAML config (everyday API).
• ```advanced-chart — raw JSON Chart.js config (escape hatch).
• window.renderChart(data, container) — programmatic rendering (use from dataviewjs).

Plus four editor commands:

• Insert new Chart — opens a graphical creator modal.
• Create Chart from Table (Column oriented Layout) — replaces a selected markdown table with a chart codeblock.
• Create Chart from Table (Row oriented Layout) — same, transposed.
• Create Image from Chart — exports a rendered chart as PNG/JPEG/WebP.

There is no inline `chart: …` form. Charts only render inside fenced blocks or via window.renderChart.

Chart.js version is pinned to v3.9.1. Most options follow Chart.js v3 syntax (notably legend lives under options.plugins.legend, not at root).

Decision tree — which surface to use

YAML quickstart — chart block

type: bar
labels: [Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri]
series:
  - title: Steps
    data: [8200, 9100, 7400, 10200, 6800]
beginAtZero: true
yTitle: Steps

Required: type, labels, series (each entry needs data; title is optional).

Full field list, every chart type's example, all color/legend/axis/time/mixed-type options → references/codeblock.md.

DataviewJS quickstart — window.renderChart

const pages = dv.pages('"Daily"')
  .where(p => typeof p.mood === "number")
  .sort(p => p.file.day, "asc")
  .limit(30);

window.renderChart({
  type: "line",
  data: {
    labels: pages.array().map(p => p.file.name),
    datasets: [{
      label: "Mood",
      data: pages.array().map(p => p.mood),
      borderColor: "rgba(54, 162, 235, 1)",
      backgroundColor: "rgba(54, 162, 235, 0.2)",
      fill: true,
      tension: 0.3
    }]
  },
  options: { scales: { y: { min: 1, max: 7 } } }
}, this.container);

Pass any raw Chart.js v3 ChartConfiguration. The function returns the Chart instance.

Theme integration, async/sync semantics, common patterns (time series, tag pies, inline-field bars), Chart.js shape reference → references/dataviewjs.md.

Tables → charts

Two flows:

1. One-shot: select a markdown table, run Create Chart from Table (Column/Row oriented Layout). The selection is replaced with a generated chart codeblock you can edit by hand.
2. Live link: tag a table with ^block-id, reference it from a chart block via id: block-id (plus optional file:, layout: rows|columns, select: [...]). The chart re-renders on metadata-cache changes for the source file.

Detailed flow, parsing rules, multi-file references → references/tables.md.

Advanced — advanced-chart, image export, settings

```advanced-chart accepts a raw JSON Chart.js config — the full v3 surface, including chartjs-plugin-annotation and chartjs-chart-sankey (registered globally on plugin load).

{ "type": "line",
  "data": { "labels": ["A","B","C"], "datasets": [{"label":"x","data":[1,3,2]}] },
  "options": { "plugins": { "legend": { "position": "bottom" } } }
}

Settings panel options (theme colors via --chart-color-N, palette overrides, image format/quality), the Create Image from Chart flow, mixed chart types via per-series type: override, undocumented options (textColor, padding, per-series spread into Chart.js dataset), and the full pitfalls list → references/advanced.md.

Common pitfalls

• Animations are off on YAML-rendered charts (animation: { duration: 0 } is hard-coded). To get animation, render via window.renderChart and pass your own options.animation.
• YAML indentation is strict. Author in source mode — Obsidian's live preview can mangle list-item indentation in series: blocks. The plugin pre-converts tabs to 4 spaces but the parser is still YAML-strict.
• bestFit treats labels as numeric — non-numeric labels produce NaN. Use only when labels are numbers.
• labelColors semantics flip with chart type. For pie/doughnut/polarArea you usually want true (one colour per slice). For bar/line/radar usually false (one colour per series). Default is false.
• width is a CSS string on the parent container, not a number. Bare numbers are silently ignored. Use "60%", "400px", etc.
• time: only formats labels as dates if the labels parse as dates. Use ISO YYYY-MM-DD (or any moment-parseable string — the plugin bundles chartjs-adapter-moment).
• No options: passthrough on YAML blocks. The YAML path does not spread an options block into Chart.js. For annotations, dual axes, custom callbacks → switch to advanced-chart or window.renderChart.
• Per-series properties are spread into the Chart.js dataset (undocumented but useful) — borderDash, pointRadius, yAxisID, even type: for mixed bar+line charts. Anything you'd put on a Chart.js dataset works on a series entry.
• Chart.js v3 syntax, not v4. Examples written for v4 may need to be down-leveled (legend is at plugins.legend, scales are x/y objects, not arrays).
• Inline `chart: …` — does not exist. Use a fenced block or window.renderChart.
• window.renderChart skips the YAML-path theme defaults. If you want theme-aware text/grid colors via JS, set them yourself from --text-muted / --background-modifier-border (see references/dataviewjs.md).
• Sankey series uses [from, flow, to] triples — the renderer rewrites them into {from, flow, to} Chart.js objects. colorFrom / colorTo are object maps in YAML and become functions inside Chart.js.
• Block-id-linked charts re-render on metadata changes, but inline-data charts only re-render on theme change. To make an inline chart reactive to a metric, use the table+id flow or a dataviewjs block.
• Print width is forced to 500px by the plugin's CSS — a workaround for a print-rendering bug.

Pairing with other skills

Pair this skill with the obsidian-dataview skill whenever data comes from dv.pages() — that one covers the query/data side; this one covers the rendering.

For recurring dashboards, push data-loading into a custom toolkit plugin (if the vault has one) and keep the dataviewjs block thin: load → shape → window.renderChart.

How to use this skill

1. Identify the surface: YAML chart, JSON advanced-chart, dataviewjs + window.renderChart, or table-driven via id:.
2. For YAML: start with the minimal shape (type, labels, series), then layer options. Consult references/codeblock.md for the per-type examples and full option list.
3. For DataviewJS: build a raw Chart.js v3 config ({ type, data: { labels, datasets }, options }) and pass it to window.renderChart(config, this.container). Use references/dataviewjs.md patterns.
4. For "I have a table already": prefer the id: linked-table flow over the one-shot conversion if the data still changes.
5. When something doesn't render or looks wrong, walk the "Common pitfalls" list before spelunking — most issues are listed there.
6. Keep dataviewjs blocks ≤ ~70 lines (Obsidian lazy-renders past that). Extract data-loading into helpers.

Source of truth: https://charts.phib.ro/Meta/Charts/Charts+Documentation. Code: https://github.com/phibr0/obsidian-charts.